Containers can be made of a wide variety of materials, depending upon the design requirements of the container. For example, containers made only of wood are relatively durable and are capable of carrying relatively heavy loads. However, the cost of the wood material and the labor for initial assembly may be quite high. Multiple reuses of wood containers are possible, but such known containers are not easily collapsible for return transport. Thus, relatively large amounts of space are required for return transport of such containers.
It is known to manufacture containers of corrugated material, e.g., corrugated cardboard or a combination of corrugated materials and wood. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,174,448 discloses a wood pallet with recyclable cardboard side walls. Such containers are limited in strength and in carrying capacity. Further, where re-use of containers is desired, as is the case with returnable packaging, known containers will withstand only limited re-use. Also, while some known containers may be collapsed to allow for compact return transportation, much work is needed to reconstruct the container for re-use.
U.S. Published Patent Application No. 20060186118 describes a reusable container for transporting a product comprising a base, a lid, at least one wall having vertical ends operatively connecting the base to the lid, the at least one wall mounted generally perpendicular to the base and to the lid in a first plane, the wall having at least one unitary exterior rib offset from the first plane, and at least one unitary corner flange formed at about a right angle to the first plane at one of the vertical ends.
It would be desirable to provide a reusable container for transporting heavy, yet fragile materials which is structurally robust yet relatively low in cost, and easy to assemble and disassemble.